Making the call in a press statement on Monday, in Abuja, the NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, gave the alleged official’s name as Mr. Femi Odubuyi, a former Commissioner in Lagos State.
Ajaero said: “It is important to restate that the beauty of democracy is in its participatory transparency which builds a belief amongst the people, and thus deepens the trust and confidence of the citizenry in its outcomes.
“When actions that negate these principles are allowed to fester, then, this bond that keeps the people cohering is broken and may lead to social anomie.
“A country like ours must deliberately build and cultivate these fine tenets so that all the tears and wears may be repaired encouraging national healing. What we therefore see may be a conscious attempt to undermine our nation and unleash further social crisis on a nation that is already tottering and at the verge of implosion,” he lamented in his statement entitled ‘Is INEC subverting Nigeria?’
Continuing, Ajaero said: “the NLC feels compelled to warn INEC and the security agencies of the dangers of subverting the sovereign will. They are the umpire in this election and must be seen as above board and acting within the ambits of the Law and its Guidelines. The deliberate frustration of the BVAS remains unacceptable and any result outside of what is transmitted or contained in it is not acceptable to Nigerians.
“NLC calls on all Nigerian workers and citizens to be at alert to protect our nation from the hands of those who have foisted the current suffering on us and now clearly wants to subvert our collective will as expressed in this election cycle. It is our civic responsibility to protect democracy and indeed our nation.
“We call on the Military and the Police to ensure the sanctity of the Ballot and protect the lives of the citizenry who they swore to protect with their arms. This is not only their constitutional duties but also their moral obligations. We call on them to live up to this challenge and protect the process as enshrined in our statutes.
“It is on this note that we call on the President of the Federal Republic, His Excellency Muhammadu Buhari, to rise to the occasion and call the electoral umpire (INEC) to order. The President ought to seize the redemptive power in this situation and demand that INEC returns to the Rule book for election conduct. It is only by doing this that he will reassure Nigerians of his innocence in this unfolding drama.
“A nation at the precipice like ours cannot be stoking fires in its house filled with dry straws. INEC should not be the one that will strike the match. Our worry is that when a people’s will are subverted, they may be forced to take laws into their hands and the stage seem to have been set for such conflagration and all hands should be on deck to avert it. INEC may be doing more harm than SARS to our people if it continues on this present trajectory.
“Once again, we warn that only an outcome that is adjudged by the people to be a full expression of their sovereign will can guarantee acceptance and peace. We must therefore, in pursuit of these, ensure that INEC stops this collusion and subversion across the country to deliver fair, credible and acceptable outcomes for this election.
“We warn INEC and others not to allow this election to degenerate into a national security crisis. This is avoidable and it is only by allowing the sovereign will prevail that we can guarantee national peace.
“The belief that it is going to be business as usual should be discountenanced as the tension since after the casting of votes should be enough signal to anybody planning a heist of the vote. It is crucial that INEC samples the pulse of the people out there before embarking on any action. We will surely not keep quiet!”
